http-rs / http-rs/surf

"Head byte length should be less than 8kb" error on some websites

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Dominant language
Rust
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Description

On some websites, e.g. http://bungalowspecials.nl, surf fails with the following error:

> Head byte length should be less than 8kb

Firefox, curl and ureq (a blocking Rust client) work fine.

241 websites out of the top million from [Feb 3 Tranco list](https://tranco-list.eu/list/3G6L) are affected.

Tested using [this code](https://github.com/Shnatsel/rust-http-clients-smoke-test/blob/f206362f2e81521bbefb84007cdd25242f6db590/surf-smoke-test/src/main.rs). Test tool output from all affected websites: [surf-head-byte-length-should.tar.gz](https://github.com/http-rs/surf/files/6054935/surf-head-byte-length-should.tar.gz)

I've only tested the async-h1 backend; I don't know if the other backends are affected.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the linked surf-smoke-test code and reproduce the failure against the listed affected sites using the async-h1 backend. Compare its handling with the working Firefox, curl, and ureq clients, then check whether other Surf backends show the same behavior. Done means affected sites can be fetched without the head-byte-length error, with coverage for the regression.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
api, networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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